Dear Investors,
I hope that you continue to thrive and that loved ones are healthy at a very difficult time for many people all around the world.
2019 was a year that shifted a lot of people into the view that aviation needed to look to new technology to help it continue on its projected growth path, and with a new mindfulness for the environmental impacts involved. At the time, air travel was predicted to add on average 5% growth every year to 2040! Clearly now the economics of demand are changed forever. There were obvious inefficiencies in this incumbent system that anyone can intuit when they need to show up to the airport 1-2 hours ahead of departure, fly over the city they’re headed to, and make it to a hub hundreds of miles away. Or have been surprised to find an entire jumbo jet only flying half full. This shows up the static, top-down route and schedule system to be impossible to design to meet naturally fluctuating demand for mobility.
Gratefully, in the era of on-demand and intelligent software-defined dispatch systems married up with highly-efficient, smaller-format aircraft; the most optimal efficiencies in air mobility are now possible. That had always been our thesis at KinectAir, well before this pandemic made it so clear that this kind of demand-driven system is truly the only way to fly in this changed world. And it is an essential, almost moral obligation we feel, to replace the lost connectivity we all now endure as a fallout of this virus.
Aircraft should only move when there is a need for them to move, because environmentally we cannot allow flights to be regularly served empty based on an insistence on a known, static, and served schedule, as was the case a week after lockdown, and is often true to some proportion on every flight.
To go further and show how serious we are about moving to a sustainable aviation future, I’m proud to share that KinectAir is now a Member of the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions, launched by Bertrand Piccard and his Solar Impulse Foundation (https://solarimpulse.com). Bertrand is a world leader in the belief that economy and ecology go together. He flew a solar powered airplane around the world to prove that these technologies exist in the art of the possible, if only we harness the creativity to see it, and the audacity to make it happen. It was an incredible achievement and a famous campaign - please do check it out if you haven’t seen it. Inspiring!
This membership enables KinectAir to apply for the ‘Solar Impulse Efficient Solutions Label’ when we are up and running at network scale. The awarded 1,000 companies, when accredited, will be promoted to governments around the world as leaders in profitable and sustainable solutions to fast track for public support.
The criteria we’ll be seeking to prove are:
- the solution needs to be technically proven;
- offer a meaningful environmental benefit compared to mainstream alternatives;
- and be profitable.
On top of the market effect and pressure it puts on jet travel, as it has done today both in the airlines and private and business charter, the Label signals our commitment and visibility in the space we want to occupy as a responsible operator and industrial leader in establishing this progressive category. To show that KA helps people to fly with a care for how efficiently they’re doing it. This is a first small step in the absolutely right direction for this company, and further accreditation of the products we create will be a recognized and valuable form of industry leadership for KinectAir.
See the entry: KinectAir - Solar Impulse
Deploying turboprops in our fleet today already delivers cost improvements against jets because they burn a whole lot less gas to fly similar distances just a little slower, a choice that also clearly affects the environmental footprint. Add to this the efficiency of flying directly point-to-point using smaller airfields that require a lot less ground taxi gallons, and you can see the KinectAir model is the future of flying in every way. And soon we’ll be deploying a new and improved mix of sustainable hybrid and electric aircraft in the fleet to bring the cleanest, most enjoyable, and affordable capability to move you to where you need to be. Much like Netflix was able to disrupt what they called ‘agenda programming’ with on-demand HD media shipped on DVDs overnight ahead of having ubiquitous broadband to the home and hand, we will move folks on-demand, point-to-point, on the finest and most efficient aircraft available today. Our ‘ubiquitous broadband to the home and hand (mobile device)’ will come in the form of hybrid and electric aircraft, with software in their soul, much like KinectAir.
We know that personal air mobility is a choice, but the amount of people from all walks of life like essential health workers, business professionals, athletes and adventurers, tech company teams, or just groups of friends and families seeking to connect again… they all want to know how they can be more responsible when they travel. We haven’t lost that 2019 feeling, folks!
The relationships that the team and I are building with manufacturers in the hybrid and electric space today will democratize personal air mobility even further when we are able to introduce these clean and intelligent aircraft. I have to keep my cards close for now but I hope to be able to tell you soon of our progress in this space. For now I am so pleased to say we are on the right path, and thank you again for joining us on the journey toward this hopeful future together.
With optimism, kindness, and gratitude,
Jonathan